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Self-Care Challenge (Day 152): Loving Lentils

On day 152 of my 366-day self-care challenge, I explored my love for lentils.

Until my mid-20’s, I had no idea what a lentil was. My legume repertoire had been limited to kidney beans, Lima beans and butter beans.

But when I ventured off to college, it opened up a whole new world of food. For one thing, I was a nutrition major, which meant that food was almost always on my mind. I learned about various food cultures across the globe, many of which seemed exotic compared to my Midwest roots.

Why is fish sauce a staple in so many cultures? And why do we eat so much corn and wheat in the U.S.? But even when I wasn’t examining the scientific and cultural aspects of food, I was hanging out with friends, which almost always included sharing a meal. And that offered opportunities to try new things.

Since then, lentils have become one of my favorite ingredients. They cook relatively quickly compared to their other legume counterparts, offer a source of plant-based protein, and provide a wealth of other important nutrients like fiber, magnesium and iron.

So, it seemed fitting that preparing a meal that included lentils was my self-care activity for the day.

Are you a fellow lover-of-lentils? What’s your favorite lentil recipe?

Want to read all 366 days of this challenge in a convenient eBook?

Ready to design a self-care practice that you love?

Stacy Fisher-Gunn

I’m the founder of Living Upp, a self-care planning and design company that teaches individuals and organizations how live up to their fullest potential using a unique 8-dimensional self-care system that I developed. I’m an author, speaker, and self-care designer with 18+ years of experience in the healthcare industry as a registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator.